[GameSpot] - Twitch Confirms Major Breach, Reportedly Including Amazon's Steam Competitor, Stream Income, More

[343iBot]

Twitch has confirmed that it has suffered a massive breach. The hack has lead to the release of sensitive information including the app's source code, streamer payouts, an Amazon-owned Steam competitor, and potentially users' personal data.

In a post on Twitter, the streaming giant was straightforward, saying, "We can confirm a breach has taken place. Our teams are working with urgency to understand the extent of this. We will update the community as soon as additional information is available." According to VGC, Twitch has been aware of the breach since this past Monday. One of the BBC's cyber reporters, Joe Tidy, claimed that if all the information leaked out was confirmed, "it will be the biggest leak I have ever seen."

We can confirm a breach has taken place. Our teams are working with urgency to understand the extent of this. We will update the community as soon as additional information is available. Thank you for bearing with us.

— Twitch (@Twitch) October 6, 2021

The information from the breach, which comes just a week after Twitch implemented phone-verified chat in an attempt to crack down on the hate raids that have been plaguing the platform, was made publicly available via a 125GB torrent link posted to 4chan today. Along with streamer payout information, the leaked data includes Twitch's source code in its entirety, proprietary software used by Twitch, and an unannounced competitor to Steam from Amazon Game Studios codenamed "Vapor," which would combine many of Twitch's features with a digital gaming storefront.

Amazon Game Studios also recently released New World, an MMO that has rapidly found success. The game has also reportedly been killing off some players' graphics cards, an issue that was first present during its beta.

Twitter users combing through the data have also found that it includes encrypted passwords, leaving users' profiles open to attacks. While this data leaking hasn't been confirmed, Twitch users should change their passwords and enable two-factor authentication as soon as possible, just to be safe.

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